Air conditioning apparatus for use in information/data center

ABSTRACT

An air conditioning apparatus for use in information/data centers is provided, including a housing assembly, a wind-blowing device, a heat exchanger, and a separating mechanism. The housing assembly has a first housing and a second housing. The wind-blowing device is disposed in the housing assembly for guiding airflow into the housing assembly for heat exchange. The separating mechanism is used for dismembering the housing assembly in order to move the first housing or the second housing, and for incorporating the housing assembly to enable the heat exchanger to exchange heat.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial No.101126745, filed on Jul. 25, 2012. The entirety of the above-mentionedpatent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made apart of this specification.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to air conditioners, and more particularly,relates to an air conditioning apparatus for use in information/datacenters.

BACKGROUND

Typically, massive waste heat are generated in information/data centersdue to their continuous or constant operation at high speed to processdata. Therefore, it is imperative to install effective air conditioningunits with good heat exchange efficiency in such centers. Owing to theincreasing trend and demand for high density data centers, theconfiguration of air conditioning equipment requires even higherefficiency and management in designs and in air flow fields.

As often seen in prior techniques, cool air provided by air conditioningequipment does not spread evenly and circulate well in conventionallarge-scale information/data centers due to the inherent design forcold/heat pathways in which distinct heat points or cold points areoften formed in the mechanical room. A general and commonly usedsolution is to employ the InRow type air conditioning equipment toimprove by reducing the frequency of occurrences of cold/heat points. Amajor drawback is that, however, such equipment would increase airblowing and power consumption, and also cause general low temperaturesin the mechanical room, resulting in a decrease of the efficiency inheat exchange.

Moreover, such large-scale information centers usually use its floorsfor air supply purposes and to serve as wire slots by drilling holesunderneath the Rack in order to guide airflow and the wires inside therack. Such racks usually do not have the flexibility to be moved aroundto suit whatever requirements, and due to the restriction of the liquidpipelines, the air conditioning equipment also cannot be moved asrequired, causing great difficulties and inconvenience in maintenance.Therefore, at present the modulated information mechanical rooms mostlyuse the middle walking path as the heat pathway and its peripherals thecold pathway, that is, the use of modulated mechanical rooms in largerspaces is unfit for and does not work well with the small orminiaturized scaled mechanical rooms.

Therefore, there exists a critical need for solving the problemsmentioned above, and it is highly beneficial to provide a more effectivedesign of air conditioning equipment capable of overcoming the drawbacksas encountered in prior techniques.

SUMMARY

The disclosure proposes an air conditioning apparatus, including ahousing assembly, a wind-blowing device, a heat exchanger, and aseparating mechanism. The housing assembly at least has a first housingand a second housing. The wind-blowing device is disposed in the housingassembly and used for guiding airflow into the housing assembly, so thatthe airflow induced by the wind-blowing device can be used for heatexchange. The separating mechanism is used for dismembering the housingassembly in order to move the first housing or the second housing asneeded, and also for incorporating the housing assembly into one toenable the heat exchanger to exchange heat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the followingdetailed description of the embodiments, with reference made to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is a three-dimensional view of an air conditioning apparatus ina state of detachment with separate housing units according to a firstembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a rear view of the air conditioning apparatus in a state ofincorporation into one according to the disclosure;

FIG. 2A illustrates a side view of the air conditioning apparatus of thefirst embodiment in a state of incorporation into one having one end ofa sliding wheel stored into the separating mechanism according to thedisclosure;

FIG. 2B illustrates a side view of the air conditioning apparatus in astate of incorporation into one as depicted in FIG. 2A having thesliding wheel stored into the separating mechanism according thedisclosure;

FIG. 3A is a three-dimensional view of the air conditioning apparatus ina state of detachment with separate housing units according to a secondembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 3B is a three-dimensional view of the air conditioning apparatus ina state of incorporation into one as depicted in FIG. 3A according tothe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a throughunderstanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent,however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devicesare schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.

FIG. 1A is a three-dimensional view of the air conditioning apparatus100 in a state of detachment with separate housing units according to afirst embodiment of the disclosure.

The air conditioning apparatus 100 comprises a housing assembly 110, awind-blowing device 121, a first heat exchanger 131, a second heatexchanger 132, and a separating mechanism having a first separatingmechanism 141, and a second separating mechanism 142.

The housing assembly 110 is adapted to hold together the wind-blowingdevice 121, the first heat exchanger 131 and the second heat exchanger132, and includes a first housing 111, a second housing 112, and a thirdhousing 113. In an embodiment, the third housing 113 is disposed betweenthe first and second housings 111 and 112. In another embodiment, thehousing assembly 110 may include four or more housing units.

The wind-blowing device 121 is disposed in the second housing 112 forguiding or drawing airflow into the housing assembly 110, and leadingaway or exhausting airflow from the housing assembly 110. In anotherembodiment, the wind-blowing device 121 may be disposed in the firsthousing 111 or the third housing 113, and may be disposed at an upstreamend or a downstream end of the first heat exchanger 131 and the secondheat exchanger 132, and also may include an axle flow or centrifugalfan.

The first heat exchanger 131 and the second heat exchanger 132 use theairflow guided therein by the wind-blowing device 121 for exchangingheat. The first heat exchanger 131 contains four units disposed in thefirst housing 111 in a V-shaped alignment at the four sides (top,bottom, left and right) of a separating board 194. The second heatexchanger 132 has one unit and is disposed in the third housing 113. Inanother embodiment, the first heat exchanger 131 and the second heatexchanger 132 may have a different number of units. The first heatexchanger 131 may be disposed in the second housing 112 or the thirdhousing 113, and the second heat exchanger 132 may be disposed in thefirst housing 111 or the second housing 112.

The first separating sub-mechanism 141 and the second separatingsub-mechanism 142 may be in the form of sliding grooves or sliding rodsworking in conjunction with the sliding wheel 190 for dismembering orincorporating the housing assembly 110. The first separatingsub-mechanism 141 is disposed between the first housing 111 and thethird housing 113 for dismembering the two housings 111 and 113 fromeach other for maintenance purposes. The second separating sub-mechanism142 is disposed between the second housing 112 and the third housing 113for dismembering the two housings 112 and 113 from each other formaintenance purposes.

The first separating sub-mechanism 141 and the second separatingsub-mechanism 142 may also be used for incorporating the first housing111 to the third housing 113 for allowing heat exchange between thefirst heat exchanger 131 and the second heat exchanger 132.

The first separating sub-mechanism 141 (or called a sliding rodstructure) may include a sliding rod 150, a first pivotal element 151and a second pivotal element 152, wherein the first pivotal element 151and the second pivotal element 152 are respectively disposed on thefirst housing 111 and the third housing 113. In another embodiment, thefirst sub-separating mechanism 141 may be constituted by differentelements, and the first pivotal element 151 and the second pivotalelement 152 may be disposed on the second housing 112 and the thirdhousing 113, respectively.

The sliding rod 150 has a first end 153 and a second end 154 pivotallyconnected to the first and second pivotal elements 151 and 152,respectively, and each of the ends 153 and 154 can move with respect tothe first and second pivotal elements 151, 152 separately. In anotherembodiment, the first end 153 may be fastened onto the first pivotalelement 151, leaving only the second end 154 to move with respect to thesecond pivotal element 152 to thereby dismember or incorporate the firstand second housings 111 and 112 from each other or into one, or todismember or incorporate the second and third housings 112 and 113 fromeach other or into one.

The second sub-separating mechanism 142 (or called a sliding groovestructure) may include a first sliding groove 161 and a second slidinggroove 162 each respectively disposed on the second housing 112 and thethird housing 113 for partly or fully dismembering or incorporating thetwo housings 112 and 113. In another embodiment, the first slidinggroove 161 and the second sliding groove 162 may be disposed on thefirst housing 111 and the third housing 113 for partly or fullydismembering or incorporating the two housings 112 and 113.

The air conditioning apparatus 100 may include a plurality of slidingwheels 191 or a plurality of supporting wheels respectively disposed onthe first housing 111 and the third housing 113, for moving orsupporting the first housing, the second housing 112 or the thirdhousing 113.

At least one side surface 175 of the first housing 111 may be used toserve as an inlet opening 181, at least one side surface 176 of thesecond housing 112 may serve as an outlet opening 182, and thewind-blowing device 121 may be disposed at the inlet opening 181 or theoutlet opening 182.

The first housing 111 includes a first cover board 171 disposed at theinlet opening 181, and the second housing 112 has a second cover board172 disposed at the outlet opening 182. The air conditioning apparatus100 may include a filter element (not illustrated) that can be disposedon the first cover board 171 at the inlet opening 181.

The air conditioning 100 may comprise a condensed water plate 192, thefirst and second heat exchangers 131 and 132 may use a cooling platepipe, and the condensed water plate 192 may be disposed on the firstheat exchanger 131 or the second heat exchanger 132.

The air conditioning 100 may comprise a detachable door board 193 or amaintenance opening board 193 for the purpose of maintenance orinstallation of the first and second heat exchangers 131 and 132, thewind-blowing device 121 and the condensed water plate 192.

FIG. 1B is a rear view of the air conditioning apparatus as depicted inFIG. 1A in a state of incorporation into one according to thedisclosure. As illustrated, when the first, second and third housings111, 112 and 113 are incorporated into one, the first pivotal element151 adheres to the second pivotal element 152, and the first slidinggroove 161 is coupled to the second sliding groove 162.

The wind-blowing device 121 guides airflow from an opening 173 formed inthe first cover board 171 at the inlet opening 181 into the housingassembly 110. The housing assembly 110 then forces the guided in airflowto pass through the first and second heat exchangers 131, 132 and thewind-blowing device 121 for the wind-blowing device 121 to lead theairflow away from the housing assembly 110 from an opening 174 formed inthe second cover board 172 at the outlet opening 182.

FIG. 2A illustrates a side view of the air conditioning apparatus 100 ofthe first embodiment in a state of incorporation into one and having oneend of a sliding wheel stored into the separating mechanism according tothe disclosure.

As shown, the sliding wheel 190 is disposed on the second housing 112 orthe third housing 113, and when the housing assembly 110 is in a stateof detachment, one end of the sliding wheel 190 withdraws from the firstsliding groove 161 or the second sliding groove 162 of the secondseparating sub-mechanism 142 for holding the second housing 112 or thethird housing 113.

In another embodiment, the sliding wheel 190 may be disposed on thefirst housing 111 or the third housing 113, and when the housingassembly 110 is in a state of detachment, one end of the sliding wheel190 withdraws from the sliding rod 150 of the first separatingsub-mechanism 141 for holding the first housing 111 or the third housing113.

FIG. 2B illustrates a side view of the air conditioning apparatus 100 ina state of incorporation as depicted in FIG. 2A and having the slidingwheel 190 stored into the separating mechanism according to thedisclosure.

As shown, when the housing assembly 110 is in a state of incorporation,the sliding wheel 190 will be accommodated and hidden in the firstsliding groove 161 or the second sliding groove 162 of the secondseparating sub-mechanism 142. In another embodiment, when the housingassembly 110 is in a state of incorporation, the sliding wheel 190 willbe accommodated and hidden in the sliding rod 150 of the firstseparating sub-mechanism 141.

FIG. 3A is a three-dimensional view of the air conditioning apparatus200 of a second embodiment in a state of detachment with separatehousing units according to the disclosure. As shown, the airconditioning apparatus 200 comprises a housing assembly 210, awind-blowing device 221, a heat exchanger 231 and a separating mechanism241.

The housing assembly 210 is adapted to hold together the wind-blowingdevice 221, the heat exchanger 231, and includes a first housing 211 anda second housing 212. In another embodiment, the housing assembly 210may include three or more housing units as in the first embodiment.

The wind-blowing device 221 is disposed in the second housing 212 forguiding or drawing airflow into the housing assembly 210, and leadingaway or exhausting airflow from the housing assembly 210. In anotherembodiment, the wind-blowing device 221 may be disposed in the firsthousing 211 or the third housing 213, may be disposed at an upstream endor a downstream end of the heat exchanger 231, and also may include anaxle flow or centrifugal fan.

The heat exchanger 231 may be one or more units and is disposed in thefirst housing 211 for using the air flow guided therein by thewind-blowing device 221 to exchange heat. In another embodiment, theheat exchanger 231 may have different quantities and may be disposed inthe second housing 212 as required.

The separating mechanism 241 is disposed between the first and secondhousing 211 and 212 for dismembering the two housing units from eachother for maintenance. The separating mechanism 241 may also be used toincorporate the two housing units 211 and 212 for the heat exchanger 231to exchange heat.

The separating mechanism 241 may include a sliding rod 250, a firstpivotal element 251 and a second pivotal element 252, wherein the firstpivotal element 151 and the second pivotal element 152 are respectivelydisposed on the first housing 211 and the second housing 212. In anotherembodiment, the separating mechanism 241 may be constituted by differentelements. For instance, the separating mechanism 241 may be the secondseparating sub-mechanism 142 as described in the first embodiment, andit may be constituted by the first sliding groove 161 and the secondsliding groove 162.

The sliding rod 250 has a first end 253 and a second end 254 pivotallyconnected to the first and second pivotal elements 251, 252,respectively, wherein the first end 253 is fixed onto the first pivotalelement 251, and the second end 254 is adapted to move with respect tothe second pivotal element 252 to thereby dismember or incorporate thefirst and second housings 211 and 212 from each other or into one. Inanother embodiment, the first end 253 and the second end 254 of thesliding rod 250 may each move with respect to the first pivotal element251 and the second pivotal element 252 respectively to thereby dismemberor incorporate the first and second housings 211 and 212 from each otheror into one.

The air conditioning apparatus 200 may include a plurality of slidingwheels 291 or a plurality of supporting wheels respectively disposed onthe first housing 211 and the second housing 212, for moving orsupporting the first housing 211 or the second housing 212.

At least one side surface 275 of the first housing 211 may be used toserve as an inlet opening 281, at least one side surface 276 of thesecond housing 212 may serve as an outlet opening 282, and thewind-blowing device 221 may be disposed at the inlet opening 281 or theoutlet opening 282.

The first housing 211 includes a first cover board 271 disposed at theinlet opening 281, and the second housing 212 has a second cover board272 disposed at the outlet opening 282. The air conditioning apparatus200 may include a filter element (not illustrated) that can be disposedon the first cover board 271 at the inlet opening 281.

The air conditioning apparatus 200 may comprise a condensed water plate292, the heat exchanger 231 may use a cooling plate pipe, and thecondensed water plate 292 may be disposed on the heat exchanger 231.

The air conditioning apparatus 200 may comprise a detachable door board293 or a maintenance opening board 293 for the purpose of maintenance orinstallation of the heat exchangers 231, the wind-blowing device 221 andthe condensed water plate 292.

FIG. 3B is a three-dimensional view of the air conditioning apparatus ina state of incorporation into one as depicted in FIG. 3A according tothe disclosure. As illustrated, when the first and second housings 211and 212 are incorporated into one, the first pivotal element 251 comesinto contact with to the second pivotal element 252.

The wind-blowing device 221 guides airflow from an opening 273 formed inthe first cover board 271 at the inlet opening 281 into the housingassembly 210. The housing assembly 210 then forces the guided in airflowto pass through the heat exchangers 231 and the wind-blowing device 221for the wind-blowing device 221 to lead the airflow away from thehousing assembly 210 from an opening 274 formed in the second coverboard 272 at the outlet opening 282.

Note that the coupling of the two adjacent housing units as depicted inthe first and second embodiments may be accomplished by employing ascrew rod with a positioning mechanism, a gear positioning couplingmechanism or a latched type positioning coupling mechanism to strengthenthe fastening therebetween.

One way to prevent airflow from leaking out between the two adjacenthousings is to take advantage of the difference between the inner andouter boards of the two housings, and also to combine the foregoing withthe use of an anti-leaking material to press against each other tightly.Or, the two housings may each be formed with a concave and a protrudingstructure respectively while combining with the use of an anti-leakingmaterial to prevent airflow leakage.

The air conditioning apparatus may include piping members, such as acold medium fluid piping, for serially or parallel connecting to aplurality of heat exchangers, and the heat exchangers may also usedifferent types of cold medium. The piping member may include a softpiping or a rigid piping, and the soft piping may work in conjunctionwith a pipe positioning mechanism to provide the piping with anextension.

Further, the air conditioning apparatus may also include wind-guidingboards, wind doors, power elements, water pumps, compressors,humidifier, thermal heaters, measuring elements (such as a thermometeror a flow meter), valves or other elements according to installationrequirements.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments.It is intended that the specification and examples be considered asexemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated bythe following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An air conditioning apparatus for use ininformation/data centers, comprising a housing assembly having at leasta first housing and a second housing; a wind-blowing device disposed inthe housing assembly for guiding airflow therein; a heat exchangerdisposed in the housing assembly for exchanging heat with the airflowguided in by the wind-blowing device; and a separating mechanism fordismembering the housing assembly to move the first housing or thesecond housing, and for incorporating the housing assembly into one toenable the heat exchanger to exchange heat.
 2. The air conditioningclaimed in claim 1, wherein the housing assembly further comprises athird housing disposed between the first and second housings, and theseparating mechanism further includes a first separating sub-mechanismand a second separating sub-mechanism for dismembering or incorporatingthe first, the second or the third housing.
 3. The air conditioningapparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein the separating mechanism is asliding rod structure or a sliding groove structure for working inconjunction with a sliding wheel to dismember or incorporate the housingassembly.
 4. The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 3, whereinwhen the housing assembly is in a state of detachment, one end of thesliding wheel is placed under the separating mechanism to support thehousing assembly, and when the housing assembly is in a state ofincorporation, the sliding wheel is stored into the separatingmechanism.
 5. The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 3, whereinthe sliding rod structure further includes a sliding rod, a firstpivotal element and a second pivotal element, two ends of the slidingrod pivotally connecting to the first and second pivotal elements,respectively.
 6. The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 3,wherein the sliding groove structure further includes a first slidinggroove and a second sliding groove, and the first sliding groove couplesto the second sliding groove when the housing assembly is in a state ofincorporation.
 7. The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 1,further comprising a plurality of sliding wheels or a plurality ofsupporting wheels disposed on the housing assembly for moving orsupporting the first housing or the second housing.
 8. The airconditioning apparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one sidesurface of the first housing serves as an inlet opening, and at leastone side surface of the second housing serves as an outlet opening. 9.The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein the firsthousing and the second housing have a first cover board and a secondcover board respectively, for allowing airflow to be guided into thehousing assembly from an opening formed on the first cover board and ledaway from the housing assembly from an opening formed on the secondcover board.
 10. The air conditioning apparatus claimed in claim 1,further comprising a condensed water plate disposed on the heatexchanger.